It has been found that in many medical situations it is advantageous to provide a patient with an intravenous infusion of a solution containing water, glucose, medicine, blood or components of blood, chemotherapy solutions, dyes, radiation-tracing materials and many other medical solutions for healing, therapy, diagnosis or other medical purposes. In may cases, the rate of infusion needs to be so rapid that the temperature of the solution may have a significant impact on the patient. Particularly, where the solution is administered at room temperature or below, which temperatures are significantly lower than the standard body temperature of 98.6 degrees.
In many situations, it has been found advantageous to heat a unit of solution, for example, a unit of plasma or a unit of blood prior to hanging the unit on the IV stand and attaching it to the IV tubing for infusion to the patient.
More recently, it has been found advantageous to provide disposable cassettes having metallic-resistance elements positioned adjacent to portions of an IV solution passage or enclosed tubing so that the solution is heated immediately prior to infusion to the patient. This advantageously allows maintenance of the solution at a cooler temperature, thereby preserving its usefulness, until immediately prior to infusion of the desired quantity at the prescribed rate. The metallic electrical resistance heater has certain drawbacks in the energy requirements for producing sufficient electrical resistance heating. Further, such devices have required special manufacturing techniques and materials that make the cost of production significant.
Thus, there is a need for an inexpensive, reliable infrared device for prewarming IV solutions immediately prior to infusing to patients.